How to fly business class affordably

March 9, 2019 by cheesie No Comments❤︎47 Prefectures❤︎

How to fly business class affordably

Ok guys.

I don’t even know how to sound like I’m not bragging (maybe just a little bit hahaha), but for the past few trips to Japan I was all flying on business class.😳

Here’s my seat:

Oh wrong photo that was the cockpit. Sorry about it. Sometimes I sit there too. HAHAHAHA damn annoying.

Wait wait wait.

Don’t close your browser and storm off in disgust yet… I’m really not the gross show-off you think I am. In fact today I will share with you how to fly business class affordably together with me!!! Got good things must share! Screw Air Asia’s slogan. I say, “Now everyone can fly business class!”. Cheesie say wan. Hahaha.

But while we’re at it, please just allow me to boast just a little bit more HAHAHHA.

Nothing much. It’s just abalone salad. Eat many times liao.

(Seriously don’t close browser yet haha I am not done yet.)

Oh. Just Japanese beef steak grilled to perfection served with foie gras sauce.

(By the way the warm bread and butter from Maison Kayser totally won my heart. I don’t even like bread rolls.)

Menu designed by super chef Yamada Chikara.

Relax, get tipsy on unlimited Japanese sake.

and sleep on your flatbed with fluffy pillows till the morning snow wakes you up.

Haha. Actually I wish the flight was longer, 6 hour is really a weird flight time to sleep. T_T

My co-travel friend Chanwon was very jelly I was sitting in business and she had to sit in economy (to be fair, JAL’s economy is actually kickass spacious).

And I simply told her, “Chanwon, I am waiting for you at the business lounge. Wait you join me soon.”

I told her how I got there and she was impressed. So, her target this year is to fly business class for the first time. My target? Get Diamond status on JMB (JAL Mileage Bank). 😌

So that’s my story. Not done yet. Anyway, let’s get to the point.

Here are some of the ways on how you can fly business class:

1. Be very rich and buy business class seats.
2. Marry very rich husband/wife so you can swipe his/her card to buy business class seats.
3. Marry pilot and get all the airline perks.
4. Own an airline.
5. Be like Cheesie. FLY BUSINESS CLASS FOR FREE.

Let’s target no.5. How???

Here’s the thing.

I have never used real money to buy a business class flight before. Come on. I’m not at that stage of life. Yet. Maybe soon I will reach there HAHAHA. But no, I don’t buy business class seats with cash. Yet.

I do three things:

~~1. Cheat clients to fly me business class~~

2.Be so charming that the airport ground staff just can’t resist giving you free business class upgrade from meh economy lolol.

3.Fly a lot, accumulate mileage, and get yourself a free upgrade.

Please ignore No.1.

No.2 only happens to me once. And the rest of the time, it is 3. The most practical option everybody can use. You all know that I fly to Japan a lot. Like, A LOT. Let’s see. The last trip was my 51st trip to Japan (means I have had 102 flights at least, excluding domestic.)

Apparently I have flown 82 times on JAL which is equivalent to 8.8 journeys around the earth and half way to the moon!!!😱😱😱Sorry but even I am impressed by myself lol.

And this is very very important:

I am loyal.

Great things happen when you are loyal. Loyalty is awesome. I only fly Japan Airlines whenever possible for two reasons:

1. I have a biased love for JAL. No need extra explanation haha. I’m not even sponsored by them. Hopefully one day I will be. ♡

2. I am a One World Alliance member on JMB (JAL Mileage Bank), as JAL is one of its alliances.

Whole family on JMB lol. Even Junya gets Crystal status.

I was so insistent to fly JAL that I refuse direct flights on other airlines, I’d rather stop-over just so I could accumulate my mileage points. I really don’t mind ANA either but I don’t want to scatter my mileage.

And let me put it this way: every 3 to 4 one-way flights I take to Japan from Malaysia on economy (upgradable, don’t select the saving plan), I accumulate enough mileage to upgrade once (one way). Which means, every 3rd time you visit Japan, you get to be rewarded with a business class upgrade using your mileage! So basically, pay economy, sit in business.

Now that sounds amazingly attractive doesn’t it?? I mean, sure, very few people are so crazy like me taking 4 flights a month to and fro Japan with my mileage bank exploding. But think about it, even if you go to Japan once a year, plus some of the mileage you get from other airlines from the same alliance, within a couple of years you will fly for first business class upgrade for free! That’s goal, right? 🙂

I see that after I post on my IG story about my JMB perks a lot of readers went to also apply for JMB. Good for you!!! Let’s all aim for diamond status! Haha. (By the way that’s extremely difficult. Basically you need to fly like 20 times a year or something LOLOL but #challengeaccepted 😤!! I was so close last year!!!)

But…

“I am not Cheesie. 🙁 I don’t love Japan as much as you do and I will never fly so often like you. How? 🙁 “

Ah. I hear you.

I won’t lie. After flying business class, it’s really very hard to go back to economy T__T. It’s like you eat Omakase at Oribe liao how to eat Rakuzen? T__T. Don’t even mention LCC liao that’s Sushi King tapao lol.

I am not a teen anymore (although young at heart haha), I see it as a life-upgrade for myself. A goal to keep myself moving forward aim for better quality. When I was in my early 20s aiya sit budget air, backpack sleep at hostel also damn happy. Simi business class la dream also never dream before haha.

But I am a mother with kids now, my earning is more stable but I’m also getting tired more easily and especially for work I really can’t afford a red-eyed-flight on LCC. (Lolol I really do sound very old.) And if I can allocate some budget from my work for a more comfortable flight and at the same time enrich my life with new luxurious experiences, IT IS WORTH IT. Don’t forget, this year’s theme is, “Love Myself”. Which includes flying business class whenever I can hahaha.

So! For those who can’t wait to accumulate enough mileage points for upgrades, let’s save money for it, and cheat a little.

I only got to know Pick A Trip very recently, it’s an app in collaboration with Visa to book your flight at a cheaper rate compared to booking from the direct airline website. I was told that it offers great discount and I was like, sure bohhhh.

Let’s put it to test.

Since we are talking about business class here, let’s have a look at business air fare!

Many people have the impression that business class seats is something that’s forever unattainable, that they have never ever even given thoughts about it before. (I also used to think that business class cost something like at least over RM10,000, couldn’t even be bothered to find out haha.)

But guess what? Business class on JAL always gets full quicker than economy class, and mind you, they have a whopping 58 business class seats on their 787-9 Dreamliner!!

And that’s because business class is not that out of league!

Let’s see.

I’m searching for flight in May, let’s say May 12-18 and the very standard rate is RM2500 one way plus tax/surcharge. Total amount is RM5681.

I guess it’s not something impossible even for an average person. Some people do save up to buy branded items that cost the same, right? It could be for a very special occasion, such as as an anniversary gift, or a reward for yourself!

It’s an option whether you choose to use to use your money on material things or experiences. And I enjoy better when I spent my money on buying experiences.

Anyway, it’s always better when you can buy a luxurious experience such as this at an even more affordable price right?

Let’s look at Pick A Trip.

First, download the app “Pick A Trip” onto your smart phone. And then you can start searching for flights!

You can easily find flights on the city you wish to visit (which is one of the 47 prefectures, right?😏). You can also pick your cabin class and preferred airlines.

In this case let’s see what options I’ve got if I were to fly to Tokyo on business class.

It shows a few featured airlines with respective airfare. Let’s not look at Philippine Airlines since it involves a stopover. In this case, Japan Airlines seems to be the cheapest option! So let’s pick that.

I keyed in the same date which is 12-18 May, and it lists down all available flights operated by JAL on that day.

Ok, a few important things to note here:

1.MAS and JAL are in the same alliance so it will show the codeshare flights. For some reason I find MAS always slightly more expensive.

2. Many people fail at this point – they want to finally try JAL after seeing me rave about it but feeling very disappointed to end up in a MH. This is because some MH flights are somehow shown as “Japan Airlines” due to codesharing. How to make sure you get on board of an actual JL flight? Take note of the flight number. Japan Airlines only flies once a day from KUL and has only 3 digits (ie: JL724), whereas anything that’s not 3 digit are all MH (such as JL9118, MH7090), etc. It’s confusing as hell but just make sure you board either JL724 (depart) and JL723 (return).

In this case we pick JL724, the flight that I always take. Take this flight and chances are you will bump into me. On business class. Together. HAHAHAHAHA.

So finally let’s make a comparison between the flight fare on Pick A Trip and the actual website: